Trump condemns 'all types of racism' a year after Charlottesville

Trump
US President condemns 'all types of racism' a year after Charlottesville

US President Donald Trump, often accused of denigrating non-white people, said Saturday that he condemned racism as the nation marked the anniversary of deadly unrest triggered by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

A woman places flowers on a makeshift memorial dedicated to Heather Heyer in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, one year after the violent white nationalist rally where Heyer was killed and dozens of others were injured

(AFP)

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US President Donald Trump, often accused of denigrating non-white people, said Saturday that he condemned racism as the nation marked the anniversary of deadly unrest triggered by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

That protest left one person dead and highlighted the growing boldness of the far right under Trump. Another far-right rally is scheduled for Sunday, right outside the White House.

Trump drew scorn after the Charlottesville violence for initially avoiding any condemnation of the torch-bearing white nationalists who took part in that rally.

On Saturday, as memorial ceremonies also got under way in Charlottesville, Trump wrote on Twitter: "The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division.

"We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!"

Last year's protests began August 11 and saw hundreds of neo-Nazi sympathizers, accompanied by rifle-carrying men, yelling white nationalist slogans and wielding flaming torches in scenes eerily reminiscent of racist rallies held in America's South before the Civil Rights movement.

Members of Antifa get in formation after passing the security checkpoint required to enter the mall in downtown Charlottesville

(AFP)

Trump has retweeted white nationalist material; said Mexicans crossing the US border are rapists and drug dealers; once referred to a Hispanic Miss Universe as "Miss Housekeeping," and employed Steve Bannon, central figure of the new "alt-right" in America, as his campaign chief and top strategist for a time.

In one of the most recent race-related flare-ups, a black former White House employee, Omarosa Manigault Newman, has written in an upcoming memoir that Trump was caught on mic uttering the N-word "multiple times" during the making of his hit reality TV show "The Apprentice" prior to his presidential run, and that there are tapes to prove it.

Manigault Newman is a former "Apprentice" star. She served as director of communications for the White House office of public liaison until she was fired in December.

While she does not write that she herself heard Trump use the taboo language, she cites three unnamed sources, and adds that she experienced "truly appalling things" with Trump, according to The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its publication next week.

The White House dismissed the book as riddled with lies and false accusations and the product of a "disgruntled former White House employee."